Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. (born August 1, 1963), better known by his stage name Coolio, is a Grammy Award-winning American rapper and actor. He rose to fame in 1995 with the hit single "Gangsta's Paradise", which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Dangerous Minds.

Early life

Coolio is the son of Jackie Ivey, a factory worker, and Artis Leon Ivey, Sr., a carpenter. His parents divorced and Coolio was getting in trouble outside home as he spent time with Baby Crips gang members, although he was never formally inducted nor accepted into the gang and therefore not considered as a member of a gang.Coolio - Biography (HTML). Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-07-14

At the age 17, Coolio spent several months in jail for larceny. After high school, he studied at Compton Community College. He got his stage name after he was called "Coolio Iglesias" after performing hip hop in school contests.

Coolio was regular guest in Los Angeles radio station KDAY. Coolio's beginning of musical career was derailed as he developed a crack cocaine addiction. After rehab, Coolio worked various odd jobs, including as a California Conservation Corps-member at the Pomona site and as a firefighter in the forests of northern California in 1980's.

Recording career

In 1995 Coolio released his second album, Gangsta's Paradise, which is his most successful album to date. It went quadruple-platinum fueled by the title track, a song that also appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Dangerous Minds, and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also contained another major hit, "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" that peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1997 Coolio released his third album, My Soul. It peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 200, a large commercial dropoff from his first two albums. It contained one charting single, "C U When U Get There", a cover of Johann Pachelbel's classic song "Canon & Gigue in D", which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next two albums, El Cool Magnifico (2002), and The Return of the Gangsta (2006), had little success and failed to chart. Coolio's recordings also appeared on the soundtracks to Clueless (1995) and Dangerous Minds (1995). In 2005, he co-hosted the MOBO awards in the UK.

Television

Coolio performed the theme song for the 1996 TV show Kenan and Kel, entitled "Awww Here It Goes", in front of the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows Park in New York City Coolio also was in a movie in 2000 called Gangland. He also starred in an episode of The Nanny, as well as in an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.